Project: Baby Blanket

Months ago, with a brand new nephew and another niece or nephew (we didn't know at the time) on the way, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to make them some baby blankets.  Unfortunately, they were not ready on time for Christmas, but they were ready on time for the baby shower for our second new nephew (he was born just the other day, so we know now - it's a boy!).

I totally cheated on the quilt aspect of this.  Instead of actually quilting the layers together, I used strategically placed buttons and sewed them through all three layers, hiding the thread ends inside the quilt.  The major downside of this is that I'm not sure how they'll hold up being machine washed.  Here's hoping they stay in one piece.

I also made a little name patch for one, and for the other, because we didn't know the gender, I just embroidered a little heart instead of a name.  The really special thing about this one was that, though you may not be able to tell from the picture, the fabric I used to make the patch was the white-on-white polka dot fabric I also used in the wedding quilt we made for my sister- and brother-in-law when they got married.  I have saved the scraps from that quilt and will continue to use them in little projects for them over the years.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the entire quilt - the most I got was the half-folded shots.  Also, the light in our dining room is terrible, so some of the pictures give it a weird look.  The fabrics I used were pastel orange and green.  The fun thing is, these little nephews now have nearly-identical (apart from the name patch and the individual buttons) baby quilts!

Special thanks to my husband for cutting out all the fabric for the second quilt and for running up to JoAnn to pick up more bias tape when I ran out.  I would have been so screwed for time on this!

Because I made up the pattern myself (leave me a message if you'd like a copy of the pattern!), I was a little disorganized when it came to shopping for materials.  The great news was that I got some glorious batting (Warm & Natural) at JoAnn for half price, so definitely use a coupon or wait for a sale so you can get the really scrumptious batting.  It was delightful to work with and was warm without being too puffy.  I ended up using about twice as much yellow as green, but that was by design, as the store had less green in stock the day I bought fabric.  I am totally blanking on how much fabric I used, especially because I changed the size of the quilt at the last minute to make it a bit smaller.  My original pattern that I designed called for something like 45" x 60", which I quickly realized was totally absurd for an infant.  In terms of other materials, I needed 2 spools of pastel yellow thread, a skein of embroidery floss for the patches, like a gazillion (ok, 4-5) packs of coordinating double-fold bias tape and a small jar of white buttons.

In the end, because it's not a precise pattern and you kind of have to adapt it to your purposes, I'd budget 10-15 hours of work for each quilt (much more if you're going to make one for grown-ups, due to the extra fabric-cutting and button-sewing!).  The bulk of that time was, for me, spent cutting fabric out and doing those damn buttons!  They look super cute, but I nearly drove myself crazy getting them securely sewed on!  I was literally embroidering the heart patch on the way to New Jersey for the baby shower.  Totally worth it, though.

They made a great gift and were very well received by both my sisters-in-law.  I hope that many family babies will get to sleep under these quilts over the years!

Apple Pie - recipe review

Just a very quick post on my all time favorite apple pie recipe - the one I begged my mother to make as a child, and the one that's better than all the others I've ever had.  I always assumed it was some magical family secret that would someday be passed along to me.  Well, I suppose it has been passed along to me, in the form of "it's just the recipe from the Joy of Cooking - follow it to the letter!"  By the way, it's also important to use the right apples - my favorite combination with this one is Jonagold, Golden Delicious, and Gala.  I ended up with that once because it was slim pickings at the grocery store, and it turned out extremely well!

Seriously?  The Joy of Cooking??  How embarrassing that my obviously unrefined taste buds prefer this to any of the many fancier apple pies I've come across!  And yet, this recipe holds up.  It is delicious.  Months ago, when I made it for the first time on Thanksgiving Day, I brought the leftovers to my coworkers.  My favorite of the compliments I received was "you can come live at my house and make me this pie every day." 

I always do this pie now with a lattice crust, because I just think it makes a prettier pie, and because I think it's easier than preserving the integrity of a giant piece of pie crust on the top.  Plus, since everyone thinks it's ten times harder than it actually is, it wins you lots of points.

Please do give this recipe a shot - if you're an apple pie fan, it's the best!

Sidebar:  I use the Joy of Cooking for a lot of recipes, along with Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and a whole lot of Martha Stewart's recipes.

I'm kind of a moron in that, by the time I got married, I could make an excellent potatoes au gratin dish (thanks, Martha Stewart!), but I had to look up how to hard boil an egg (Mark Bittman, you totally saved my butt!).  I feel like the combination of the three sources I have cited here works very well to help fill in the holes in my culinary knowledge while giving me more advanced stuff to try out as well.

Review: Pho Van and WFH Oriental Food Market

My husband and I recently decided to take a second trip to Pho Van, a small Vietnamese restaurant in Pittsburgh's ever-wonderful Strip District, which is packed with grocery stores, restaurants and the public market - that's a post for another day.  We had been to Pho Van before and loved it, especially the apple chicken salad, which I failed to photograph AGAIN this time, because it was just too delicious to stop and take pictures.  Once again, we had a fabulous meal.  The apple chicken salad alone is worth the trip, but the crispy rolls are also a great appetizer.  As for main courses, I got the pho, with rare eye round, and it was fantastic.  My husband had the grilled pork and totally loved it.

On the way back to our car, we passed by WFH Oriental Food Market, also on Penn Ave.  It's got lots of great things at great prices, but unfortunately does not live up to the awesome Lotus Foods down the street.  Having been to Lotus even more recently, I can tell you that Lotus has a much wider range of products, better selection, and a much more pleasant store - Lotus has a larger store, enabling them to space the aisles better.  WFH Oriental Food Market, though very claustrophobic, is still worth a visit.  We picked up a lot of produce on that visit, including some that's pictured here.  Best of all was the GIANT cabbage that we couldn't resist - seriously, how is a cabbage that huge?  And, last but not least, the green tea ice cream we picked up did not last long in our house - yum!  I would say that, when I plan ahead, I just head straight to Lotus and skip WFH - Lotus has the same things and more, plus the better overall experience.

Maine Visit, Part 2 - reviews and general awesome

 Some of these are just images, and some I'll discuss a bit more.

 To start off with, one of the reasons I love Maine is because I love love LOVE my mother's style.  Just look at her living room:

 How could you not love that living room?  The rest of it is just as beautiful.  My mother has some of the most fabulous taste I have ever come across.  I'd love to post some more, but she also values her privacy, so I have a feeling I should get her permission before I do that.  :)

We got to head to another of my absolute favorites on this trip, Stone's Cafe.  We have always just called it Stone's, and it is one of my favorite diners ever.  I had the eggs benedict, which were totally tasty.  Everyone was very happy with their order, as is always the case when I go there.  I am getting so hungry just thinking of it that I have to move on...

A quick example of why I love Mainers, spotted in the Trader Joe's parking lot:

We got some tasty treats from Rosemont, which is a fantastic market with several locations in Southern Maine.  Everything they carry seems to be pretty excellent, and my particular weaknesses are their cheeses, cured meats and breads.  Admittedly, those are my particular weaknesses in most places, but few can satisfy like Rosemont.

We even got to check out some old pictures on the slide projector - including my absolute favorite baby picture of me, making a ghastly little face:

It's funnier in person - somehow, the photo of the projection is not the finest quality image (who knew??  haha)

And of course, I have to include some love for La Petite Jacqueline, my favorite restaurant in Portland.  Their onion soup, their steak frites, their roasted chicken, even their basic green salad - everything I have tasted there is marvelous.  So many French restaurants get pretentious and awful.  It drives me nuts, because I've lived in France, and outside of the snootier Paris establishments, French restaurants are just, well, restaurants.  No need for putting on airs.  La Petite Jacqueline seems to have captured the most wonderful things about French restaurants and cooking, and so this restaurant is really like a love note to France.  With mouth-wateringly good food.  Of which I took some truly awful photos:

I console myself with the knowledge that even the most gorgeous of photos would not do this food justice.

Ooooh, and I almost forgot - the cocktails.  Oh, the cocktails.  I need to figure out when I can get back there...

Portland, ME trip - with a quick coffee shop review!

In February, shortly after my Valentine's Day post, my husband and I headed to Portland, ME on one of our frequent visits.  We made it to a few different places, but one of my favorites is on Exchange Street.  We had to park on upper Exchange, right by City Hall:

...and then we made our way down the street to Mornings in Paris, a supercute coffee shop that I am FINALLY learning not to call Java Joe's anymore.  Quick moment of silence for the awesome that was Java Joe's - a lovely haven for me in high school and college.  It has since become Mornings in Paris, and my mourning over Java Joe's did not last long.  I still go there on almost every visit home, even if just for an excellent cup of coffee.  Honestly, though, if they have any quiche left and you have the time, it'd be a crime to leave without tasting it.  They also have the most darling assortment of macarons:

Running into a friend while sipping my coffee in the window was the icing on this delightful cake.

And also, on that visit, I got to see this little puff ball:

A whirlwind trip that made me very happy.

Name Change?

Once again, it has been FOREVER since I last posted.  Totally guilty.

One of the things that has been putting me off posting is that the blog name, "The Wife Pages," is starting to seem a little stupid to me.  I started writing this when I had been married just a couple of weeks, and while I am just as excited to be married as I was that day, one of the joys of the wedding being in the rear view mirror is that I no longer have to obsess over my "bride" identity.  Being a wife is making me very happy, but I think calling this blog, which I'd like to start filling with adventures and projects and recipes and whatnot, "The Wife Pages," just seems a little too "bored housewife" to me.  It's a shame, because it's such a clever pun - you know, the Wife Pages - like the White Pages!!  It *is* clever, no?  Anyway, I am going to have to mull that over and come up with something better.  In the meantime, I have plenty of projects to share!

Valentine's Day!

I haven't posted in FOREVER, but I need to start again. 

I had such fun with Valentine's Day this year.  I literally got my husband three different cards, plus a packet of these tiny cards, which I hid in different areas of the house:

My husband love love loved all the Valentines he received.  For dinner, we had our beloved tomato/mozzarella/salami combination with balsamic vinaigrette on pieces of a baguette.  Delicious!  We finished the meal with these delicious mini Nutella cheesecakes, the recipe for which can be found here.  They are SO TASTY.  I would describe them more as like a nutella cream pie in texture, possibly because I beat the mixture for a while.  I finally got to use my new hand mixer!  ($12 at Big Lots - winning!)

Sooooooo tasty!

Also, I put together a great present (if I do say so myself).  I'd been eyeing some delicious stationery with a Pittsburgh theme for MONTHS but couldn't justify the $18 price tag for just 5 cards.  They're made by several local artists - a photographer who shot the images featured, a sketch artist who turned them into sketches and a letterpresser (is that a word?) who created the gorgeous notecards.  The paper is just wonderful to the touch.  They are amazing.

I picked three of the images - the Smithfield bridge, the old train station and the Macy's clock - that are dear to my husband's heart.  I put on my Valentine's Day mustache socks...

...and got to work.  Between the L.L. Bean slippers and the plaid flannel pants (I have an evil cold, so spending a lot of time in pjs when not at work), I'm clearly a Mainer.

I used my schmancy new mat cutter system - someday I will get one of the ones where the blade runs on an actual track, and cutting those windows will take 30 seconds.  A girl can dream, right?

In any case, here's the finished product:

I'm pretty pleased with it, and my husband was thrilled.  Yay!

For his part, he definitely made our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife very special, despite me being the snot monster.  He knew I loved the Jason Wu for Target line, which I hadn't been able to get myself as it sold out immediately.  So he managed to get me the canvas tote bag.  It's adorable, and the cat on it looks just like one of our little miscreants.  What a thoughtful husband!

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day!